SGPC to send four-member panel to Nankana Sahib in Pak to take stock of situation

Chandigarh: A day after the attack on Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Saturday announced to send a four-member panel to visit there to take stock of the situation.

Condemning the incident, SGPC President Gobind Singh Longowal appealed to the Pakistani government to take strict action against the culprits.

Besides meeting the Sikh families, he said the delegation, comprising Rajinder Singh Mehta, Roop Singh, Surjit Singh and Rajinder Singh, would meet Pakistan’s Punjab Governor and Chief Minister.

“We condemn the attack on Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and appeal to the Pakistan government to take stringent action against the culprits and also ensure the safety of Sikhs living there,” Longowal told the media in Amritsar.

He said they have spoken with the Gurdwara Nankana Sahib management authorities too: “They told us the situation is normal now.”

The SGPC, considered a mini Parliament of Sikh religious affairs, has control over Sikh religious affairs, manages gurdwaras (Sikh temples) in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, including the holiest of Sikh shrines Harmandir Sahib, popularly known as Golden Temple, in Amritsar.

Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asked Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to immediately intervene to ensure that the devotees stranded in Gurdwara Nankana Sahib were rescued and the historic gurdwara is saved from the angry mob surrounding it.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has condemned the attack.

In a statement here, he said it was shocking that the local administration in Nankana Sahib remained a mute spectator to the violence unleashed by the mob which tried to gate crash into the gurdwara compound and indulged in inflammatory speeches.

“I urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. This is a despicable act and it is the Pakistan government’s primary human, moral and constitutional duty to ensure the safety of Sikhs in the country,” he said.

Sukhbir said in the interest of justice, “the Pakistan government should also act against chief instigator Mohammad Hassan who was responsible for the abduction of minor Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur, and who led the attack on the gurdwara”.

(The headline of the story has been modified by EP Web Desk)

IANS